Norton Picking Up Pieces of Veterans Service District After Mansfield, Easton Leave

After the announcements that Mansfield and Easton are dropping out of the Crossroads Veterans District, Norton is taking a long hard look at their options concerning veterans services.

While in the district Norton did not have a full-time veterans agent. The town was trying to rectify this when Mansfield and Easton announced they were dropping out.

“We were short a person and we were getting ready to hire someone else,” said selectmen chair Timothy Giblin.

Giblin said they already had 25 candidates and have sifted through most of them. He said he’s reasonably sure the town can hire a Veteran’s Service Officer from those candidates that only serves Norton, but that was just one of the options.

“We should look at having our own VSO,” selectmen vice chair Robert Kimball said.

Town manager Michael Yunits said the town could also look into partnering with other towns, like Foxborough or Easton, as it did in the past.

“We’ll talk to Easton and see what they plan on doing this time,” he said.

Giblin said the town should pursue many options at once so it does not get stuck with an option it may regret later.

“We should try to go with the district or try to go ourselves,” he said. “We can do both simultaneously.”

Selectman Bradford Bramwell said if the town is going to hire its own agent, the board should move sooner rather than later.

“We should have someone available in the office by July 1,” he said.